How to be a Better Call of Duty Black Ops Player

Introduction

I know that you all are tired of getting constantly killed by people on Black Ops. You stare at your K/D and you ask yourself, Am I really this bad? Well, you probably are (I'm only joking), but I'm here to help you improve. I'm only offering advice and It's up to you to act on that advice and better yourself. I hope you enjoy what I will attempt to make a humorous tutorial on improving your gameplay.

Connection Interrupted ....Oh Great here we go again...

Let's start off with the most annoying thing ever, that Call of Duty players have to deal with. What is it? It's that nasty, Host Migration and Connection Interrupted screen that you see quite often. You might already be asking: How the heck does that effect your ability to play Black Ops well? Oh, trust me my friend it does, but it does indirectly. If you had that connection interrupted screen there is a chance that your internet bailed on you. This is where my first tip starts:

IMPROVE YOUR INTERNET CONNECTION.

Improving your internet connection does a lot of things, but most importantly, it increases your chance of becoming a host. Being a host allows you to have an amazing hit detection. For example, you ever wonder why you empty your clip and your enemy and your enemy only uses 3 bullets and he still comes out on top? That's because he has a better internet connection or he may be the host. Simply, put if your host, your going to win A LOT more gun fights.

How do I improve my Internet Connection?

- Whether your using a wireless router or your are connect using a Ethernet Cable make sure you are not downloading or uploading anything while your playing Black Ops.

- If possible try to move your wireless router as close as you can get it to your gaming console

- And lastly get Wireless router that has a very good range. I prefer Net Gear routers.

Improving your internet connection is the lesser of the more important tips, because your other skills can always make up for a bad internet connection.

Sensitivity and Button Layout

One may say that whatever button layout and sensitivity your comfortable with you should stick with. I say Wrong!! I used to be one of those poor saps that still with a sensitivity of 3 and a regular button lay out, and I am so glad I put those days behind me.

Let's start off with Sensitivity, I can't begin to tell you how much it will improve your game play. The higher your sensitivity the better your reaction time. I like to have my sensitivity around a 7 or 8. Now, when you put it to such I high sensitivity for the first time your not going to be able to do anything right. It's going to be a drastic difference. I recommend going into combat training and practicing. Try to pit yourself against 9 other people with no teammates on your side so that your constantly on the look out for enemies. Its going to take a lot of getting used to. It took me 2 days to get used to it, you guys may not be as slow as I am, but it does take a lot of getting used to. You will immediately see how fast you can react to enemy fire. This will in turn help you get out of fire fights faster and provide you with more success on the battlefield. I cannot stress enough how important sensitivity is.

Next is button layout, this may be more of a personal preference but i like to have my button layout on tactical so that I can drop shot faster. Of course others may like the original setting where the knifing is at the joystick so that they can knife faster. Each layout has its pro's and con's but it is your choice in the end. The tactical button layout allows you to perform drop shots faster and hide under cover faster. Drop shotting throws your enemy off especially in the middle of a close to medium range fire fight. Throwing your enemy off allows you to either fire back and most probably win the fight or allows for an easier escape.

Notice how these two Tips involve reaction, reaction is the most vital part of playing Black Ops. Your reaction time is s direct correlation with your K/D ratio.

Those are Nice and Perky

No no no no! I no what your thinking from the subtitle, as nice as they are I'm not talking about those. PERKS! Perks are your next key to success. Perks give you that advantage (or disadvantage) over your enemy. Setting up your perks involve some deep thinking, but I'm here to help you alleviate that pain from thinking so much.

You need to know what Perk goes best with each gun and what game type goes best with each gun. In a nice convenient list I will show you what gun and game type goes well with each perk as well as give that perk a rating from 1 - 10 (10 being the best). Before you tell yourself this is a long list, just note that I will put this to use when I talk about the best class set ups later on in this article.

These are the Tier 1 Perks:

1. Lightweight- Allows for Faster Movement in other words, Run like Usain Bolt (Pro- No Falling Damage)

- All SMG's work well with lightweight

- All game types go well with light weight, its great for Capture the Flag

-Id give this one a 7/10, despite how universal it is, your can really live without it.

- Best for Assault Rifles, I like to combine a silencer and a Red Dot Sight

-Again all game types, I find it most common in TDM

-8/10 great reliable perk, its always fun to have an extra Tomahawk

Next comes the Tier 3 Perks:

1. Marathon- Spring Longer (Pro - Unlimited Sprint)

- Great for SMG's, you can use this with Assault Rifles too but I don't recommend it.

-Great for Capture the Flag and Search and Destroy (so you can do a quick plant)

- I'd give this a 8/10, i like using this perk when I'm goofing off and running around with a ballistic knife

2. Tactical Mask- Protection against NOVA Gas (Pro- Reduces the effect of Flash and Stun Grenades and reveals location of enemy when you flash/stun them)

- Use it for anything and everything

-Use it for anything and everything

-Unfortunately, I have to give this a 9/10, only because the Pro perk takes forever to get. But, once you get the pro version of this perk, it will probably be the best perk you have in your arsenal. Flashes/stuns are so commonly used so lowering their effectiveness to pretty much nothing for the enemy, gives you a HUGE advantage.

3. Ninja- Make less noise when you, walk, spring or jump (Pro - Be completely silent and enemy footsteps become louder)

-You can use it for any weapon

-This is 1 of the 2 ideal Tier 3 perks for Search and Destroy, being silent and hearing your enemies give you a huge advantage in sneaking. Especially in a game mode that gives you only one chance to live.

4. Second Chance- Drop to the ground after you die and fend yourself for 10 seconds with a pistol (Pro - You can be revived)

-Ahh come on man, don't use this perk

-Seriously, stop using it

-1/10, yes its that bad. I hate seeing people use it and I hate using it. This rating really relates to my annoyance with this perk, but still its fairly useless except when you have a kill streak going and you don't want to lose it.

5. Hacker- Allows you to see enemy explosives and equipment in red (Pro- Allows you to hack enemy equipment, booby trap crates and makes you invisible to motion sensors)

-Use it for everything!!

-This is good for all game types, but most importantly this is the second Tier 3 perk that is useful for Search and Destroy. People often use equipment in S and D and being able to see them, destroy them, or be invisible to them; gives you an upper hand.

-10/10, if I had the patience to get Tactical Mask Pro that would be the best perk in the Tier 3 category. But, for now this takes the cake, because it offers more than any other perk in the game.

Okay, okay I know your tired of reading all that (if you did at all), but I had to put that up there for informative reasons (people that are new to the game or needed advice). But, please continue to read on and I promise I wont disappoint.

Killstreaks

Black Ops a great variety of Kill streaks that are very unique in their own way. Their functionality is a whole different story. Kill streaks can be used to help your team, or kill as many people as humanly possible. Lets take a look at how you can use the available kill streaks to help out your game and the game of others.And the end of this section you will find some great kill streak combinations to improve your game.

Team Kill Streaks- (Kill streaks that help the team, Duh)

1. Spy Plane- Reveals enemy location in timed intervals. Believe it or not, this is the most useful perk in the game. 3 kills (or 2 with hardline) and you know where your enemy is. This kill streak can be used as a building block toward your other kill streaks, as it helps you get to your next kill streaks by showing your enemies location.

2. Counter Spy Plane- Jams enemy radar. A great kill streak to help your team. Enemy will be virtually clueless to where you are

3. Care Package- Will give you a random kill streak. If you don't want it share it with your team!

4. SAM Turret- Help your team and take down air support with this automated turret that shoots down enemy aircraft.

5. Black Bird- The holy grail of team kill streaks. Reveals enemy location and direction. Better yet it helps you out in getting to the higher kill streaks and helps your team catch up if your are losing in team death match. This a must have for high-end killstreaks

Ummm Killing Kill Streaks?-

1. RXCD- UGH, the most annoying kill streak in the game. I suppose one can have fun with this Kill Streak but its no really that effective.

2. Napalm Strike- I love this kill streak with a passion that burns hotter than 1000 suns. You don't need that many kills to get it (only 5) and you have the potential to get a lot of kills as well as prevent your enemies from advance to objective.

3. Mortar Strike- This isn't a bad kill streak but its not fitting for all game types. Id suggest using it for demolition or domination where everyone spawns in a constant location.

4. Sentry Gun- Use it in High Places and your bound to get a whole bunch of kills.

5. Valkyrie Rockets- I prefer not to use it, hard to control, not much potential to get a lot of kills.

6. Attack Helicopter- Meh easy to shoot down, honestly I don't know if its just me but I never manage to get more than 4 kills.

7. Chopper Gunner- A great way to rack up a lot of kills. Packs a powerful punch and prevents the enemy team from advancing.

8. Attack Dogs- These doggies are a perfect pair to go with your chopper gunner. These guys will take down people trying to shoot down your chopper gunner while you kill the rest.

9. Gunship- An extremely powerful kill streak, but a pain to control. But, trust me you can rack up kills with this baby real fast.

Now to the Juicy Stuff

So I probably bored you with some of that stuff, but I gotta go what I gotta do. Now, ill show you what kill streaks you can combine together to maximize your effectiveness. What you choose is up to you, have fun with it.These are some suggested kill streaks:

1.Spy Plane/ Counter Spy Plane/ Black Bird- This is the ultimate set up to support your team. Imagine knowing where you enemy is and your enemy not having a clue where you are at the same time. If you want to get kills with your weapons and not using a "killing kill streak" this is the way to go.

2.Napalm/ Chopper Gunner/ Attack Dogs- This is what I usually run. You always have the napalm as your low-end kill streak that will still manage to get you a decent amount of kills event if you don't get to the higher ones. You'll find yourself getting a lot of kills and a pretty nice K/D with this one.

3.Black Bird/ Chopper Gunner/ Attack Dogs-The black bird will help you get your next 3 kills. Once you hit the Attack Dogs call them in and then call in your Chopper gunner. The enemy will have a hard time shooting you down (unless of course they have a SAM turret)

4.Black Bird/ Chopper Gunner/ Gun Ship-You have the potential to get the most amount of kills with this one as long as your enemy doesn't make an attempt to shoot you down. Both the chopper gunner and gun ship provide excellent air support.

Remember you choose your kill streaks, do what works best for you and have fun with it.

Move like a Ninja

These tips will teach how how to move like a ninja or just sneak and flank your enemy.

-Never be afraid to use a silencer. Its best to use it on your assault rifles, if you are comfortable using an assault rifle without a red dot sight, this is a great attachment to use. It comes in extremely useful when you are trying to flank your enemy.

-Never move around with your teammates. I know this sounds mean, but when you are moving with a teammate, I find teammates extremely unreliable, especially if its not someone in your party. They never cover your flank, or watch a door while your picking off people through a window. But most importantly your teammate will giveaway your location. You always want to be the loner so that you don't attract attention to yourself. More than likely, your teammate is not using a silencer, and that will give away his location or a radar, and that in turn will be the general location of where you are. Moving alone is the ideal way to flank your enemy

-Move on the edges of the map. You never want to be stuck in the middle of the map. You open yourself to be shot at in any direction. The edges of the map are where the least fighting occurs. Although that may not be where you want to go, by using the edges of the map you can sneak to where the enemy spawn is or where the bulk of the enemies are and flank them. That way you can rack up a lot of kills.

-You can also patrol a section of the map. This is an alternative to moving along the edges of a map. Patrol 1/4 of the map and study it well. Learn all the places the enemy can come from. Patrolling may not get you a high amount of kills but it leads to you die less often, and dieing less often helps out your team, especially on team death match.

-Use your ears. Invest in some headsets if you can. Hearing your enemies footsteps is a huge advantage. You can get a jump on the enemy before he can get a jump on you.

General Tips

Although these may be general, there are not tips you should overlook, some of these tips are the most important I can offer you.

-Know where you enemy spawns or will spawn. This is vital and this is why I say stay away from your teammates. You enemy will spawn opposite of where the bulk you teammates are. If you are the loner on the other side of the map, you may be lucky and have the chance to pick them off while they spawn. Note that spawning will be different for each game type.

-Know when to make your exit. We all have had numerous occasions where we get 3 or 4 kills (or even more) from one location. That's great, but its when you get too greedy that's when things fall apart. If you kill different people from the same location, they will all be coming to get you to take their revenge, chances are, you won't survive if they keep coming to get you. I would say get 3 to 4 kills from a location and move somewhere else. It's the safest bet.

-Warm Up. For many of us our first game of the day is the worst one. Those are usually your warm up games. But, why waste it on an actual game when you can practice in Combat Training. Pit yourself against 9 people and use that as a warm up.

-Stun the equipment, don't destroy it. If you have hacker on your going to see your enemy's equipment in red. If they have a claymore or motion sensor down, I would suggest to flash or stun that equipment rather than destroy it. Once you destroy it, the enemy will be alerted that it was destroyed and will know that there is an enemy nearby so it is to your advantage to disable the equipment so you can breach into the room he is camping in, a safer manner.

-Make sure your Perks Go well with each other. For Example it would be silly to have a class that runs Flak Jacket/Scout/Ninja with an an Assault Rife. These perks do not work well together and do not reap much benefit. But, if you used a class like Scavenger/Sleight of Hand/Hacker with an assault rifle, you are in serious business.

-Sit so that your directly facing the TV. Seems like a silly tip but trust me it makes a difference. Don't sit on the floor and play games, because you are looking at it at an angle. Plus, its bad for your back to do that.

-Know the map. This goes hand in hand with knowing where your enemy spawns. You need to learn every inch of that map. Knowing the map allows you to take better routes toward flanking and/or gaining the advantage above your enemy.

-Find your style. You can either be a defensive player, or an aggressive rusher, or you can even be both. Being defensive doesn't mean you sit and camp, its more of moving around cautiously and taking your time, there will be times where you wait a few seconds for your enemy to come to you. Playing defensively requires patience, your going to find your self dieing less often with this kind of role. Playing aggressively doesn't mean to run around like a chicken with its head cut off, it means to rush out to the enemy in an intelligent manner, kill a few people, take cover for a few seconds and pop out and kill some more people. Find your style do what works best for you.

-Take a chill pill. Quite often we find ourselves wanting to jump out of our chair and throw the controller at the TV while playing Black Ops. More often than not, we play worse when we are angry or annoyed, we don't think, we act irrationally. When you are at that point, take a break from the game, go outside, eat some ice cream, just do something relaxing. You should also try to take regular breaks from the game. Playing for 6 hours straight it a bad move, not only for the health implications but for the sole fact, not only for the fact that your body just needs a rest, but toward the end of those 6 hours your ability to perform well will decline. For example, lets say you play for a 3 hour sitting, You will be performing at your worst for say, the first 15 minutes (because you need to warm up and the last 45 minutes (because you are tired). Smack-dab in the middle of those times is when you are at your peak. You don't want to continue to extend that period of when you are tired because you are only going to get worse. So, long story short, take a break man.

Class Setups

For my final section I will talk about my class setups that I enjoy using and why I use what I use. Here are 6 class set ups.

This here is the standard run and gun class and you can find yourself having a lot of fun with. This requires an aggressive type of game play. Best to use with a high sensitivity so that you can react to multiple enemies faster.

This is an amazing class for long range maps like Array or Berlin Wall. Pick off your enemies with ease and efficiency. You don't really need scavenger here because I don't use up a lot of ammo with the m16 because it has a 3 round burst, Hardline will do you well.

3. L6a1 or PSG w/Variable Zoom. Perks: Ghost/Scout/Hacker. Preferably a claymore or a motion sensor will serve you well.

Standard sniper class. Not a fan of scout but it does no harm. You can inter change it with Sleight of Hand. Ghost so that you can't be seen on radars.

4. AUG w/silencer. Perks: Ghost/Sleight of Hand/Hacker. Equip: I like the motion sensor for this one but claymore works fine.

For some reason I think the AUG with a silencer is amazing, but that's just me. This is a very good sneaking class, good for flanking your enemies and staying hidden. Play defensively with this class.

-This is pretty much the standard assault class. I listed the best rifles to use for this class. But just because it is standard don't underestimate its power these are probably some of the best weapons in the game. And this can easily be claimed as one of the best class setups in the game.

6. Stakeout/Spas 12 (if your using the spas use a silencer). Perks: Scavenger/Steady Aim/ Marathon. Use with tomahawk!!

-This is your "let me screw around with these fools class". I use this for when I am making a montage or if I am getting bored of the game. Scavenger is vital so you can replenish your tomahawks.

Im Done, Finally!

Before I have Carpal Tunnels Syndrome from typing all this, I'd like to thank you all for taking your time and reading this. For some of us this is common knowledge. To others this may be great help. What ever the case may be I hope I helped some one with this tutorial. If you have any questions you can shoot me a message in my inbox on youtube, Youtube.com/thefinestgamer. Remember you are what makes yourself a better player, go out, and do what works best for you, my tips are supplements for your skill, its up to you to act on them.

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